A Place of Solitude During Times of Stress

A bad day of fishing is still better then the greatest day at work!

 

It is way past my bed time. I have to get up very early. I am tired but I have a lot on my mind. Challenges with my work and family (not the Tsunami, I am mostly immune to their challenges). These are all things that will wear on a person. Normally I don't worry much past what I can control. Right now there isn't much I can control and the stress is there.

So here I am tired and having the thoughts that tomorrow is going to be a really long day and wishing that I was riding through the mountains or floating down a river.  No, I am in the Quad-Cities in February.

When it gets like this my brain seems to go to a default memory. While I don't remember the exact date, it was spring.  Maybe late March or early April.  It was a gorgeous spring day and the temperature was perfect for a stone fly hatch on the Bitterroot river. A good friend of mine and I were floating the river, I was rowing and he was fishing.  We came to a braided channel, a perfect place to pull the raft on the bank and we could both fish the braids. I had been rowing all morning and happy to do so as long as K caught fish, if he wasn't producing it was his turn to row.

K went to fish the channels I didn't really feel like fishing so I decided to soak up the sun.   I layed down on the tube of my raft which had dark green and material had been absorbing the warmth of the sun on that nice spring day.  I vividly remember how nice it felt on that afternoon.  Using a life preserver as a pillow I drifted in and out of consciousness.  I could feel the heat of the sun on my face and the refreshing sound of water running. I lay there and listen to the birds and the water, a little piece of heaven. 

K was surprised that I chose not to fish.  I am glad I did not because I know that had I fished, that day would have blended itself with every other day on the water.  Each fish caught that day almagamating with every other fish I have caught in life.

Instead I have a totally different memory, one separate from any other day.  One that has brought me comfort throughout life.  When the conditions are right or I feel the warmth of the sun, I find myself transported back in time to that place with the warmth of the sun and my raft and the sound flowing river. 

These have brought me comfort countless times and will do so as far into the future.